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Washington Blade
shutting down

Owner Window Media closes D.C.'s famed weekly

By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Nov 17, 2009

A month ago, the Washington Blade celebrated its 40th anniversary with a special commemorative edition and a reception at the Harman Center for the Arts. At the time, editor Kevin Naff called the paper's commitment to excellence in journalism "stronger than ever."

Blade owner Window Media didn't share that commitment. Yesterday the Blade, along with a handful of other gay newspapers across the country, were shut down with no advance notice.

Window said it would release a statement later this week explaining the reasoning for the closures, though it seems a safe bet they're related to the economy.

Window has reportedly entered Chapter 7 after the U.S. Small Business Administration placed its majority stockholder, Avalon Equity Partners, in receivership last year. In the time since, the agency failed to find a new buyer for the publications.

Window bought the Blade and several other gay publications in 2001.The Houston Voice and Southern Voice newspaper and David magazine in Atlanta, as well as the South Florida Blade and 411 magazine in Florida, were also owned by Window and also closed yesterday.

Naff yesterday told reporters that he hopes to relaunch the Blade, one of the country's oldest gay papers, under a new name, with the same 20-person staff.

The weekly reported on some of the biggest issues of the day over the past four decades, including AIDS, gay marriage and gay bashing. As the newspaper came of age, so did the gay rights movement, reflected in a proposal expected to be ratified by the Washington, D.C., city council supporting gay marriage.

The Blade began as a mimeographed single-sheet report on issues of importance to gays in the D.C. area, many of whom were still closeted back in 1969.

It has since grown to a circulation of 23,000 per week, with a web site that draws some 10 times that. The web site was offline as of this morning.

Louisa Ada Seltzer is a staff writer for Media Life.	© 2010 Media Life Magazine

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